I love Christmas! All of the lights, music, etc. makes it my favorite time of year! And, I love to give gifts! As I’m sitting here today I’m rolling through my mind the different gift options for the family this year. I love this time of year!

What I find interesting though is how I sometimes roll through Christmas missing the whole point. Can you relate?

Summed up in a few words, Christmas is all about encounters. It is the single most important purpose that God birthed His son into this world – to have an encounter with you!

Beginning this weekend we are going to take a look at what scriptures have to say about “Christmas Encounters”. There is no doubt in my mind that God desires to bless your life, and those blessings are a result of intimacy with Him.

Grab some friends, grab the family, and get ready for the best Christmas you have ever experienced! God is ready to have an encounter with you!

One of my favorite stories, and probably yours, is the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac, out of obedience to God. (Genesis 22) It is always fun to read the story and to see Abraham’s heart and to see God’s faithfulness, but recently I was reading it and a couple of things occurred to me about God’s provision.

First, Abraham didn’t see the ram until he looked up! Many times when we go through difficult seasons we tend to keep our heads down and not look up to see what is around us. We become so laser focused on the challenge at hand, that we miss the provision a few feet away. Just like Abraham, God will test our hearts, and part of the test is to see where we focus our sight. Are we hunkered down, depressed, and captivated by the disappointment? Or, do we lift our eyes, filled with faith, knowing somewhere around us is the provision of God?

Second, scripture says, “So he took the ram and sacrificed it”, in other words Abraham had to go take possession of the provision. God had provided it, but he had to actively possess it! Many times in our lives God has provided for us, but we simply don’t take the steps to possess it! We sit waiting for God to deliver the provision right into our hands, when it sits a few feet away, awaiting for to take a few steps of faith to take hold of it.

If you are like me, you have issues in your life that can get you down. Everyday there are opportunities to hunker down and dwell in disappointment! But, reality is that God has place provision around us! So lift up your head and take the steps to go possess it! In the majority of circumstances receiving God’s provision is a matter of our perspective, more than His faithfulness!